Mike Magee scored the tying goal in the 69th minute and Landon Donovan converted a penalty kick four minutes later, leading the host Los Angeles Galaxy to a 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps in a knockout playoff game Thursday night.

The defending MLS champion Galaxy endured a tense hour of play after Darren Mattocks scored in the fourth minute for fifth-seeded Vancouver, which had won just three of its last 17 matches.

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Los Angeles’ stars finally came through. David Beckham’s corner kick helped set up Magee’s goal, and Donovan drew a penalty with a strong run to earn the go-ahead goal, the record 21st of his MLS playoff career.

The Galaxy advanced to a two-game Western Conference semifinal series against San Jose, which won the Supporters’ Shield as the league’s best regular-season team. The Earthquakes visit Home Depot Center on Sunday night.

Donovan unsure about future with U.S. national team

Donovan isn’t sure he wants to play in the 2014 World Cup, a stance that prompted U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann to say he intends to speak with the longtime American star.

The 30-year-old Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder, a veteran of three World Cups, has been sidelined by a string of injuries this year and has appeared in just eight of 20 national-team games since Klinsmann became coach.

“If I’m not enjoying playing any more, the World Cup is the last thing on my mind,” Donovan told ESPN. “I need to make sure that I’m enjoying playing every day. If I’m not enjoying it, none of that stuff really matters. And your body’s going to tell you it’s time to take a break, and that’s what my body has done this year, there’s no question.”

Donovan said he can picture himself not playing in the World Cup. He has an American-record 49 goals in 144 international appearances, but his injury layoffs have given him doubts.

“When you’re not part of the team all the time, you can start to question your value and your worth there,” he said. “I’m human. I think about those things, and I wonder that from time to time — am I capable and/or do they still want me around?”

Klinsmann said Donovan is wanted by the national team, which starts the 10-game final round of World Cup qualifying in February.

“I find it really courageous of him to talk openly about what’s going through his mind,” Klinsmann said. “He’s always in our plans, absolutely.”

Tennis

Qualifier stuns Murray in Paris

Qualifier Jerzy Janowicz of Poland rallied to stun Andy Murray of Great Britain 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 in the third round of the Paris Masters. The third-seeded Murray, the U.S. Open and Olympic champion, lost to a player who opened the year taking part in Futures tournaments.

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic secured the last two places for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals after reaching the quarterfinals in Paris.

Wozniacki prevails

Already qualified for the semifinals, top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki beat Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 to make it three wins in three matches at the season-ending Tournament of Champions in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Marathon

Mayor says race won’t

divert resources

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg defended the decision to hold the New York City Marathon on Sunday, insisting resources wouldn’t be diverted from storm victims. He noted electricity was expected to be restored to all of Manhattan by race day, freeing up “an enormous number of police.”

“This city is a city where we have to go on,” he said.

City Council member Domenic Recchia Jr., however, called plans to hold the race “just wrong” in light of the ongoing misery among residents with no food, shelter or electricity.

The marathon brings an estimated $340 million into the city, and race organizers say some of it will be used for recovery efforts.

College basketball

UConn wins Ollie’s debut

Connecticut opened the Kevin Ollie era with former coach Jim Calhoun watching from a seat on the baseline.

Calhoun, who retired in September, slipped into Gampel Pavilion just before the tip of UConn’s exhibition game with American International College. Omar Calhoun scored 24 points to lead UConn to a 78-63 win.

In Louisville, Ky., Big East preseason player of the year Peyton Siva from Franklin High School had 17 points and six assists as the second-ranked Cardinals beat Pikeville 93-57 in an exhibition.

Elsewhere

• Evander Holyfield filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles to try to stop the upcoming auction of some of his boxing memorabilia, including an Olympic bronze medal and the gloves he wore to fight Mike Tyson. The suit claims Holyfield must consent to the auction of all the items and that the disputed items should be returned.

• U.S. authorities in California say former Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington will serve three extra months of federal probation in a 2010 perjury case.

• The IOC opened an investigation into Lance Armstrong’s role in a doping scandal that has already wiped out his seven Tour de France titles and could cost him his Olympic bronze medal. The IOC will also examine the Olympic involvement of other riders and officials implicated in a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report.